Bodega Contador - 2014 - Contador - 750 ml.
Spain - Rioja - Rioja Alta
Tempranillo
Red - Vintage: 2014 - Size: 750 ml.
Bodega Contador is a modern wine producer in Rioja, Spain. Its flagship wine, Contador, is one of Spain's most consistently high-priced wines, on par with Pingus and Vega Sicilia. Made predominantly from Tempranillo and aged in French oak, Contador is known for being full-bodied, fruit-driven and rich.
There was no 2013 produced, so I tasted the current 2014 Contador, the vintage that follows the 2012. Tasting a new vintage of Contador is always a very intense moment. I had previewed the 2014 when I visited the winery in the summer of 2016, when the wine was very obviously young but showed very promising. All those promises seem to have made it intact into the bottle. It's intense, pungent, ripe without excess, with aromas of spices, exotic woods, balsam, earth, wild flowers and berries. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with fine-grained tannins, a nice texture and pungent and persistent flavors. It has the balance and stuffing to develop nicely in bottle, and it will surely be better in a couple of years. 5,900 bottles were filled in May 2016.